New Zealand Cricket (NZC) have refused the chance to tour Pakistan for a T20 series.
The Black Caps are slated to tour the UAE in October this year when they will take on Pakistan in three Tests, three ODIs and as many T20Is.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had been attempting to convince the New Zealand board to hold the T20 matches in Pakistan but have now been told that there is no chance of that happening.
“At the end of the day it came down to following the advisory and the security reports we’d obtained,” NZC chairman Greg Barclay was quoted as saying by NEWSHUB.
“There’s no doubt they (PCB) are disappointed. I think they saw a tour by a country like New Zealand as being a great precedent for them to start to build an international programme back in Pakistan.
Kane Williamson’s men will take on Pakistan in the UAE.
“So they’re disappointed but they’re good guys, we get on really well with Pakistan, and I think they’re fully accepting of the decision that we’ve reached.”
New Zealand have not toured Pakistan for 15 years now. Their last visit to the country in 2003 ended on a premature note after a bomb blast outside the team hotel in Karachi.
Pakistan have been attempting to bring back international cricket to the country in recent times. The likes of Sri Lanka and West Indies have all played T20Is in Pakistan over the past year while some matches of the Pakistan Super League have been staged in Karachi and Lahore too. Barclay stated that New Zealand remained committed to see international cricket return in a big way to the country.
“We’re very sympathetic to the plight they (PCB) find themselves in, we’re a member of the ICC, we’re very aware that the ICC are trying to facilitate more international cricket in Pakistan and we’re very supportive of that. But all circumstances considered, we just decided circumstances weren’t right for us to tour at the moment,” Barclay concluded.